Collocating machines



March 31, 1959 Filed July 13; 1953 L. E. PITNER COLLOCATING MACHINES 7 Shets-Sheet 1 I N VEN TOR.

A L 0 Y0 E. P/ T/VEE 05 5/1550 BY 5y JOHN 4.. P1 ruse,

A rroe/veys March 31, 1959 I 2,879,991

COLLOCATING MACHINES v 4 Filed July 15. 1953 7 Sheets-Sheet 2' INVENTOR. A .4. 0 v0 6 P/ TNER, CECE/7550 March 31, 1959 L. ErPlTNER COLLOCATING MACHINES 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 13. 1953 INVENTOR.

w M; w Z M p um rm m W T m N A xm 5% 0 0 VJ v V: 5 WM L. E. PITNER COLLOCATING MACHINES 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 13, 1955 INVENTOR.

March 31, 1959 Filed July 13, 1953 L. E. PITNER COLLOCATING MACHINES 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

Amjruiwm L. E. PITNER COLLOCATING MACHINES Filed July 15; 1953 7 Sheets-Sheet '7" ATTOENEVf United States Patent COLLOCATING MACHINES Lloyd ELPitner, deceased lateof Milwaukee, Wi s;, by

John L. Pitner administrator; Milwaukee, Wis..

Appli'cafionlhly 1'3, 1953, Serial No. 367,686

6- Claims (Cl. 2709-58) This invention relates to a collocating machine. Broadly speaking; the invention relates to a machine for slitting into strips a sheet made up of unitsarranged accuracy is required and yet high. speed of. operation isnecessary to carry out a practical collocation. In each of the. steps in handling material through the collocating machine, the strips of individual units, are so controlled that thehigh degree. of accuracy in operations is attained and means are provided for.- the ultimate collocation either amounting to a shufiling of the. units in final delivery, or in collocating them with a. high degree, oi predetermined arrangement adapting the machine for use in converting, collocating and assembling of cards or of pages to be arranged as books.

More particularly stated the object of the invention is to attain rapid operation of an input feed of units in sheet form, slit the sheet into strips of units, collocate them on a tray and by change of direction of movement and by provision of a special tray, arrange the strips in stacks. for severance of. the units from one another before shufiling" them-the shuffiing being accomplished in passing the units to a conveyor.

Other objects of the invention are to be found in the features of construction of the machine such as. the timing of. the various functioningparts, the means for jogging the strips just prior. to a die cutting operation, the pusher apparatus with its means for advancing the strips or the units with certainty and accuracy as will be apparent: from the following description.

In. the drawings:

Fig. 1 isv a plan view of the entire machine drawn to the scale of three-fourths of an. inch to one foot.

Fig. 2 is a perspective of portions of the machine, other portions of the machine being cut away to show diagrammatically the path of progress of material acted upon by the machine.

Fig. 3 shows in plan in an enlarged scale of one and one half inches to one foot the portions of the machine in which. the slitting, stacking, die cutting, and pocketing of the material is accomplished.

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation. of the central portion of. the machine, the motor driving mechanism and the input conveyor and slitter being deleted.

Fig. .5 is a section on line S--5 of Fig.3.

7 Fig. 6 is a detailed view in elevation of the slitting rolls taken on line. 66 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 7 is a view partly in vertical section and partly in elevation taken generally on line 7--7 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 8 isa section; on line 8--8 of Fig. 7

'ice

Fig. 9 is a section on line;9 9 of'EigTl.

Fig. 10 is. an endelevation, of, the parts. shown as;

drive and dwell directly operated? by the. rackbar shown.

at-the; lower rightin Fig. 3,.

Fig; 12.is a section on.line.12 -1j2i offFig... 1.1..

Fig; 1'3 is. a side eleyati'on'of' the. pneumatic contro device. for the drive and" dwell mechanism shown iuFig s; 11v and 12.

Fig. 1.4 is: a detail in enlarged elevationof pocketsand; pocket conveyor mechanism forming. part. of." the. output. end of themachine.

Fig. 15 is a section. on line 15'-=--15= of Fig. 14.

Fig. 16 is, a vertical section. showing. fragmentarily a detail of av por ion of; the. die: cutting ea in retr ct dposition, over a stack: of strips of cards positioned uponthe bed of. the machine inreadinessfnr a die. cutting operation.

Using Figs. 1 and), as abasis. for a preliminary gen eral description of the, machine tracing theipath of IIIQVE7= mentof material therethrohghat 2,5. is an inputfeed table over which the sheet 26, of units is: manually fed. to the. position shown. in. Bi 2... where itmay. ca nr d. nd: fe om ically y f ed. rolls. 2.7.; and. 28 so. h t he. fe edge of the sheetzfiyis. engaged by. slitting rolls 2.9 and .0, These slitting ro ls. ac as eed ro s. to. projectthe, in ivida.

collocating tray 35.. Stacker chains... 36,. cause. stacker dogs.

37 to move in slots across collocating tray 35 to force.

the strips- 31 laterally of. the. r y n to dvance hem against stack stop,s 4.0 There. they are-in an: accurately determined position in readiness for action by strip push; ers. which. move. the stack under thedie cutter head 45 for action by the die cutter knives. When the. die. cutter knives. have come down. thereon, the. individual units are pushed bythe pusher bar 41 into pockets. 46. formed by a pocket conveyor mechanism 50. From these pockets 46 advanced upon the conveyor 50 to a pointof delivery, the units may be removed manually or automati,-. cally as desired.

In the followingv detailed description of the various parts of the collocating machine, a minimum of description. of the application offpower tothe. various parts will. be dealt with until in conclusion the drive. connections will be. dealt with separately.

The input: feed mechanism The operator ofthe machine places sheet 26. upon table 25 and thrusts it forward against ani'nfeed stop 51 secured to the yoke described below. He is ablev to do this because theinfeed rolls 27 and 28 are, amply separated by an automatic input mechanism. The lower feed roll 28, as; shownin Fig. 7, is mounted upon a fixed arbor 52 and; its top surface is tangential to the plane of the top of table 25, but arbor 53' of the upper feed roll 27 is carried in bearing blocks 54 secured to a yoke 55'. The yoke is mounted. on, a yoke. shaft. 56 and at each end of the yoke there is a pintle connection 57 to a yoke rod 58 extending to a tree 59 beneath frame 60 ot the table 25. Centrally the tree, 59 is; connected to an air piston 61 of air cylinder 62, the valve for which. is at 63 and is connected at 64' to a source of compressed air. Valve 63 is under control of a timer 65'. Valve 63 is electrically operated and the timer 65 includes two separate switches each of which, is provided with a ,feeler 66-67 mounted upon a frame bracket 68 in such a Fate ed Marlass.

again. This means that the upper feed roll is brought down upon'sheet'26 at the sametifne that'feed"stop 51 is drawn upwardly to permit the feed of the sheet to the slitting rolls and the feed rolls are brought into operating relation upon sheet 26 merely long enough to advance the sheet to the'bite of the slitting rolls. Since-the stop 51 is mounted to the yoke 55 on one side of its mounting on'shaft 56 and the feed roll '27 is mounted to the yoke atthe o'ther'side' of the yoke pivot point, it is apparent that upon the release of; the upper feed roll from its feeding contact with the sheet'26, the feed stop 51 is dropped down 'uponthe forwardly/feeding sheet so that the operator can feed an additional sheet in'under the upper feed roll and into contact with the feedstop 51 in readiness. for another feeding operation at the time when 'the'timer pin 69 again -contacts feeler 66..

a The slitting operation I As has already been indicated, sheet 26 has an array of units scribed or otherwise delineated thereon in rows indicated in Figs. 2 as 80, 51, 82,, 83, 84,-and the individual units in any particular row areshown at 85, 86, 87,88, 89, 90, 91 as shown in Fig. '2. Thereis also a waste area 92 at the end of the sheet 26.

The power driven slitting rolls 29and 30 are of the type well known in this art. Their'arbors are in fixed pil-. low blocks 93 and 94 and each roll is equipped with annu lar slitting rings 95 so disposed that the side of one ,ring is contiguous with and overlaps the side of a ringon the other roll'. The result is, as will be readily apparent from an examination of Fig. 2, that as the sheet encounters the slitting rolls the rings 95 on'roll 30 will lift one edge of a strip 31 and the ring 95 on roll 29 will depress the other edge'of the strip. The strips 31 are thus tilted to match the tilt of the bottoms of the grooves of collocating tray 35. Also, there may be waste strips at'ea'ch side. margin of r the sheet" These are diverted downwardly after theyhave been slit by the rings 95.

Since. as above described the feed rolls 27 and separated at the time when the slitting rolls engage the sheet 26, it is thefeed roll characteristic of the outer surface of the rings 95 bearing upon the'surface of the strips which actually feeds the strips onto and across tray 35, but since the distance from the slitting rolls to the stop at the far end of the tray is greater than the length of the strips, means must be provided to assure that the strips are fed completely onto the tray. Forthis purpose a final feed roll 96 is constantly power rotated and idler squeeze roll 97 is mountedon an arm'98 pivoted at 99 so that when air is fed into cylinder 100 the plunger 101 thereofwill bear vupon the arm 98 and cause the strip'to be, squeezed betweenrolls 96 and 97;

for ya final feeding operation :The air control for the cylinder 100' (see Fig. 8) is located in an air feed line 102 and a valve 103 has an actuating arm 104 respons ive to earn button 105 carried by a shaft 146. When all of the strips have reached their positions upon the collocating tray 35, and against strip stops 107, they are ready for the stacking operation.

' The collocating stacker As shown most'clearly in Figs. 2, 8 and 9, tray 35 is made up of a number of shallow troughs, the bottoms of which are in echelon. Each trough is positioned to receive a strip 31' and as each strip slides into its trough lengthwise, it comes in contact with the strip stop 107 at the end of the trough. Since the strips are often madefof material which maybe, lifted. by a breeze or may tend to convolute under the driving force of the slitter rolls or final ,f'eed rollf96, -'a number, of brush guides 111 and 112' (see Figs. 3 and 7) ,areso positioned that the bristles bear approximately at right angles to the inclined surface o f the particular trough with -refern e to w chara cule b acts a ras e' Above, the trayBS and. aligned with the slots;

28 are 3e and 4 39 are stacker chains 36 supported upon sprockets 113 "onstacker'shaft 114, andlllfi dhstacker idler shaft 116.

The chains travel in the direction shown by the arrows and each chain has a stacker dog 37 pivotally mounted to its side. Each stacker dog is L-shaped and is relatively loosely pivotally mounted at the bend in the L. The lower reach of each chain travels in an inverted channel member 117 shaped to receive not only the chain but the L-shaped portion of the dog, and therefore shaped to keep the dog 37 in position to force the strips 31 laterally in a stacking or bunchingoperation wherein the first strip 31 contacted by the dog is forced out of its trough and up over the strip in the next adjacent trough.

Thus the stacking operation is progressively and positively carried on until all of the'str'ips 31 are stacked against stack stops 40. The channels 117 terminate at the point necessary to release the stacker dog 37 and 2 permit it to swingably evade the stack at the point where the stackerdog interferes with the advancing progress of the stack at this point in the delivery of thestack against the stop 40. v I

Stack feeding and die cutting a When a complete stack has been deposited against'the,

stack stops 40, the apparatus for operation of the stack' pusher bar 41 provides means for advancing the stack into position under the die head 45.. The die head is mounted above bed 120 and is mounted for vertical reciprocation between ways 121, 122 as shown lnFlg. 3.

' reciprocated to and from the bed 120.

. comprise individual knives 130 held in place and clamped Since, in the particular example of work to be done on this machine, the stack is to be cut transversely and separated into individual cards, the knives of 'the die cutter by blocks under pressure of set screw 132 as shown in Fig. 16. The knives are flanked by compressible.

stripper blocks 133 in a. manner common in this art. Thus there are spaces betweenthe stripper blocks for some of the mechanism required to move the strips of cards across the bed.

Above the tray 35 is a substantially rectangular frame shown in'p'lan in Fig. 3. It is supported at 141, 142, 143, and 144 by blocks which in turn are each supported by a cam 141', 142', 143' and 144' on shafts 145 and 146. The shafts 145 and 146 are connected by chain 147 so that they rotate at the same rate of speed, with theresult that the frame 140 remains horizontally'above the tray and is raised and lowered in synchronism with the'other parts ofthe machine. One wall of the frame 140 at 148 is provided with. bearing bores at 149, 150 through which stack pusher bar rods 151 and 152 are extended as shown in Fig. 3. These pusher bar rods are developed at one end into rack bars 154155 and at the other they carry a pusher bar head 156--157 to which a pusher bar connector 158-159 is mounted. It is upon the end of these connectors 158-159 that the stack pusher bar itself is mounted. Under the rack bars 154-4155 there is a slide support 160 -161 carried by frame 140 so that a pinion 162163 may act upon the push rods 151-152 in accord with a drive of the pinion as described below.

It will thus be seen that as the framework 140 is raised and lowered the pusher rods 151 and 152 will be reciprocated by the pinion and rack bar drive therefor, and

pusher bar 41 is lowered to the bed .120, thrust to the right as viewed in Fig. 9 to push material in that direction, then raised with the frame 140 during retraction of the pusher bar, and then lowered again to the bed for another pushing operation. The entire height of the pusher bar 41 and its connectors 158159 is slightly 133, and the connectors 158'-159 are spaced between;

Reviewing the action of the stacker and the stack feed-- ing and die cutting, it will be seen that the dogs 37 stackv the strips 31 and move them againstthe: stops: 40 where they come to rest and the dogs 37 retract so that'they: may return to pick up the next group of strips. The. stops 40 arethen retracted by mechanism. to he. described below and the strip pushers- 165 are brought down in. position behind the strips in readiness for a. pushingv operation wherein the strips are pushed under the die head. With the die head descending for. a die cutting operation, the connectors 158--159 liein. axposition: be.- tween the die cutting knives where they will not interfere with the die cutting operation. The die: cutting is com.- pleted and the head 45 raises sufiiciently' and in such timed relation to the movement of the pushers: that the stack pusher bar 41 may be raised, retracted,andbroughtv down behind the die cut material and moved inapushing operation to push the die cut material out from; under the die head 45 and into conveyor pockets described.-

below.

Push, retract, dwell and push apparatus sectors of hub 172 at 173174. A hubbed retainer bracket 178 is mounted upon. shaft 170 and is so shaped that the pinion, thus mounted to the shaft is. embraced by the bracket to hold the bracket. in positionv and retain a rack bar 180 in engagement with the pinion. This rack bar will be referred to as a dwell drive rack bar'180' and is secured to a pitman 181 which-.is in turn connected to a dwell drive plate 182 so that as the plate 182 revolves in. timed relation to the rest of the power connections of the machine the rack bar 180. causes. the; stack. pusher bar apparatus to be reciprocated. However, it is 116C687 sary that the stack pusher bar dwell in that part. of its;

stroke in which the pusher bar is at the extremev right as viewed in Fig. 9, and this dwell. takes place at the time when the rack bar is in the extreme left. position as viewed in Fig. 10. To produce this reciprocation and dwell drive. a separate driving force. is provided. to urge shaft 170 to rotate in counterclockwise direction as viewed in Figs. 9 and I. This separate driving force is provided by the mechanism shown in Fig. 13. A sprocket 185 on shaft 170 is provided with a chain 186, one end of which at 187 hangs freely. The other end 188 is connected to the plunger rod 189 of a piston (not shown) in a cylinder 190. Air pressure upon the piston and cylinder 190 is provided through an air tube 191 which constantly urges the piston to its lowermost position and therefore constantly tends to revolve. sprocket 185 and shaft 170 in a counterclockwise direction as seen in' Figs. 9 and 13. Thus with the drive connections for shaft 170 as thus far described, the pneumatic drive is adequate to advance the pusher bar to its forward position at the right as. viewed in. Figs. 9 and. 10. until the adjusting nuts 1192 upon the plunger rod 189 strike a stop at 193. Throughout this stroke of the plunger 189, the collar 175 and its drive lugs 176 have. actually been Actually the pinion. 171 is loosely. mounted.

attempting to drive pinion: 171. faster than. rackhar' 18.0?

permits it to travel; But when; the; nuts 19.2. strike; stop:

193, the pneumatic drive of shaft ceases and there:

is a dwell in its oscillation throughout the; remainingportion of the stroke of rack bar in that directiom.

Then as the directionof movement of rack bar; 180. is: reversed, the hub. 172 of pinion 171 picks.upthe-. lug;

1 76 and the pusher bar is. retracted. Of.cours.e-, throughi-. out' theretracting stroke of the. rack: bar the; pneumatic drive resists the mechanical operation of thepushergsince there is. no automatic. valve to. shut off or control. pressure inv the cylinder 198.

As will be described more in detail below, thezpushi-ng stroke of the rack bar. 180 and the. movement. of the; pusher bar 41 is accomplished while. the frame: 141i is: in its lowermost position with the pusher bar:'41;and strip; ushers-165 in contactwith. the bedl20. of: theamachine.

The pocket. conveyor In. the particular collocating' operation illustrated in. Fig. 2 where the strips 31 comprise units of card like. configuration after the: strips have been acted upon by the knives 130, it is desired that. a pack of these cards as ultimately delivered by the machine. shall include-sets secured toa belt-like metallic strip 196. Each plate-- 1951 is provided. with a pair of strap: engaging clamps 1971-198 which are undercut to receive the strap 1'96- as shown in Fig.v 15. It will be noted" that: the strap 1% has a lineof perforations 199 spaced in fromeach; margin of the strap. Each of the clamps 1-97 and 198' is provided with a dowel 200 shaped for insertion through one of the perforations and into a pocket in plate 195. Thus the plate is secured: snugly and positively to the strap 1% and cannot change: its position with. respect to the strap. Each pocket 46 has a side plate-201, and' avertically bored bottom plate 2020f substantial vertical-z dimension. Through. the bore" 203 is; guided a rod-like bottomv post 204 at the upper end of which: is atiltedbottom 205 for thepo'cket. This tilted. bottomis: of such: dimensions asto fit between the side plate 201 of'its own pocket and the side plate of an adjacent pocket-1 when the pockets are aligned along thebed 120.. At the l'ower end. of bottom rod 204 is a caster wheel- 206positioned to roll upon a bottom adjusting conveyor channel 217.

The conveyor strap 196 is in belt-like relationtotwo conveyor pulleys 218 and1211 which are supported upon vertical axes in bearings 212 and 213 so that the strap.

1% has one long reach. 215 parallel with the margin of the bed 120 along which the strap. and its pockets maypass to receive the die cut product pushed from beneath the die cutting head 45.

It' will be noted that the channel 21.7 is sloped with its lowermost portionat the left as seen. in Fig; 4 and its;

highest portion as seen at the right. As the pockets" pass in their path of travel fromthe. extreme right to the extreme left, the bottoms 265 of the pockets are lowered progressively, and in their path of travel from left to:

right as seen in Fig. 4 the casters riding in the channel" 7 and each of'the pulleys fits between clamps 197-198 to prevent the strap from sagging 011 of the rim of the pulley.

Near the lower end of each plate 195 is a driving spud 225' extending inwardly of the path of travel. These spuds are in position to be acted upon by a reciprocating drivedog 226 and they receive the driving force to move the conveyor in step by step motion. The dog is much like a spring latch and is mounted on a pin 227 carried by a slide 228 which is carried by slide mount 229. The spring to act on the latch is seen at 230 in dotted lines. Slide 228 is reciprocated by pitman 231 acted upon by rotary plate 232 on shaft 233. As the plate revolves the slide is reciprocated, and the dog is moved far enough on each stroke to engage the next spud on the next pocket so as to advance it the proper amount for reception of thenext set .of stacked and severed units. As the slide is moved to the right (Fig. 4) the dog is forced by the next spud to oscillate downwardly against its spring 230 and it then snaps up into driving position for its next forward stroke against the spud.

If a particular collocating operation requires that the pockets be advanced for a greater distance, as for instance, the distance of two pockets, the slide is long enough to permit of a longer sweep with a larger plate and a longer pitman for that purpose.

The driving and power connections With the exception of the power derived from air un der pressure, the entire machine is powered by motor and speed reducer 240. This is connected by V-belts to av pinion drives a spur gear 244, on the shaft 245 of which is a miter gear at 246 mated with input feed miter gear 247 on shaft 248. Sprocket 249 and chain 250 for the drive of shaft 251 are connected to the infeed rolls and slitters.

Fig. 7 shows shaft 251 and sprocket drive through chain 252 to the lower feed roll 28. This roll (see Figs. 3 and has spur gear connection at 253-254 to the upper feed roll 27. It will be remembered that upper feed roll 27 is mounted on arm 54 but both rolls are power driven nevertheless and rotate at identical peripheral speed at all times in readiness for feeding operation when the air controlled plunger in cylinder 62 and its yoke 55 pull down the upper roll and squeeze the sheet to be fed.

Shaft 251 also is connected through sprockets and chain 255 with the lower slitter roll 30 so that power is applied to these rolls which are interconnected by spur pinions 256 and 257.

Another chain connection 260- 261 with appropriate sprockets provides power from shaft 251 to drive final feed roll 96 as shown most clearly in Fig. 7. This is the feed roll which completes the feed of strips 31 onto the tray 35 after they have left the slitting rolls.

The heaviest drive connections are those which drive the head 45. Main power shaft 242 with its spur pinion 243 and driving spur gear 244 on shaft 245 as above described carry rotative power to head drive pinion 265 meshed with large spur gear 266 on head operating shaft 128. Thus the motor drive to the head 45 is relatively slow, actually in the particular illustrated operation 20 cycles per minute.

Upon the head operating shaft 128 is a large sprocket 270 (see Fig. 5) with chain 271 operating over idler sprockets 2'72 and 273 and extending to sprocket 274 on jack shaft 275. This supplies power to a pinion 276 meshed with gear 277 on stacker shaft 114. It is this stacker shaft which carries the two sprockets 113 for stacker chains 36 as described above.

As shown in Fig. it is stacker shaft 114 which carries power tosprocket 280 and chain 281 for the drive of the pusher mechanism. Chain 281 is connected to driven sprocket 282 on shaft and since shaft 145 is connected to shaft 146 by chain 147 the drive is complete forraising and lowering pusher frame 140.

Likewise the chain drive to sprocket 282 drives the plate 182 for the push and dwell-mechanism.

A jogger shaft 285 extending across the machine under tray 35 is connected to shaft 146 by means of chain 286 and appropriate sprockets 287 and 280 (see Fig. 10) This jogger shaft has a flanged cam hub 289, the cam of which is convoluted as shown at 290 in Fig. 7. A jogger rod 291 is carried reciprocably parallel to shaft 285 by tray supports 292 and 293 and by frame member 294, and the jogger roller at the end of the rod bears against theconvolutions 290 under the bias of compres' sion spring 295 positioned about the rod and between the frame and the roller head 296. Extending upwardly from the rod 291 is a jogger 297 protruding through the bed 120. It is thus in line with the end of a stack of strips 31 when the stack pushers have pushed the stack off of the tray 35. The jogging by the jogger 297 aligns the ends of the strips with accuracy so that the units are pressed against guide 298 and may be accurately severed from one another by the die head after they have been pushed forward.

On shaft 285 is also cam 300 with cam flange 301 faced to the right as seen in Fig. 7. This cam is shaped to properly time the upward thrust and then the retraction of stack stops 40. Each of these stack stops is mounted in vertical ways 305 attached to a frame member 306 so that the lower end of each stop 40 is connected to an L-shaped stop actuator 307 mounted to a frame supported pin 308. The other end of each L-shaped actuator is connected to a reciprocable actuator bar 309 and the connections have appropriate lost motion slots as shown. The bar 309 has a roller head 310 somewhat similar to roller head 296. This is biased by spring 311 to bear against cam 301 which reciprocates bar 309 in proper timed relation so that the stops 40 retract below the bed when a stack pushing operation is to be performed.

This completes the power connections except for the pocket conveyor drive which is shown most clearly in Fig. 4. Shaft 128 is connected to jack shaft 315 by means of sprocket 316 and chain 317. Miter gears at 3118 connect jack shaft 315 to conveyor drive shaft 319 and a sprocket thereon drives chain 320 connected to jack.

shaft 321. Another chain, on appropriate sprockets, at 322 connects shaft 321 to the shaft 233 of plate 232. Thus the rotation of the plate is powered to motivate the step by step movement of the pocket conveyor as above described.

Under the channel 217 at 325 is a pocket jogger comchine will be obvious from an examination of the drawings. Pedestals 350 under the bed 120 at the pocket conveyor end of the machine are built heavily. Legs 351 at theother end of the machine are lighter but they also support cross members 60 and risers 352 braced by braces 353 to carry the functioning portions of the machine.

Operational sequence of the machine Referring to the particular collocating problem used herein as an illustrative use of this invention, the sheets of unitsare to be separated and arranged in the ultimate form of cards piled in the pockets. Each of these cards is a prize" orftrading card to be included: in a packageof candy or gum. There must be av certain number of these cards (units) of acertain type in each filled pocket. For instance, one sheet has a picture on. each unit of a major league hall player and a complete sheet shows all the players in a ball club. A. complete pocketfull of cards or units at the output end of the machine will have one picture of each player.

The operator feeds a sheet across the table 25 so that its leading edge strikes infeed stop 51. The infeed rolls 27 and 28 are ready to bear against the sheet as soon as air valve 63 is opened by switch 66. Air under pressure is thus passed for a short interval to cause arm 55 to be pulled down; Roll 27 is brought down by the arm and the sheet is fed to the slitting rolls with sulficient force to cause the slitting rings to bite into the sheet and to commence action which is both a feeding and a slitting operation as above described.

The individual strips 31 are tilted as shown in Fig. 6 and are projected into their respective troughs under the bristles of the respective brushes 111-112. While the feed of strips by the slitters is quite fast there is sufiicient friction in the trough and under the bristles to prevent the strips from reaching the stops 107 at the ends of the troughs. Therefore, in timed relation to the approaching trailing ends of the strips the valve 103 passes air to the cylinder 100 and the squeeze rolls 97, of which there are enough separate roll surfaces to contact the individual strips, press the strips upon. the final feed roll surfaces at 96 to complete the feeding action.

When the slitting and strip feeding operation is complete the strips 31 are disposed in fiat contact with the tilted bottoms of the troughs in the tray 35, the high side of each trough being on the side toward the head 45. Then the stacker dogs attached to the chains 36 are timed to swing to the lower reach of the chains where the channels 117 hold the dogs 37 in the vertical position shown in Fig. 2 for a stacking sweep across the tray. It will be clear that each strip 31 laterally moved up and out of its trough is projected up and over the strip in the next trough. A stacking of strips is the result, and the complete stack, in this case of five strips slides out of the last trough onto the bed 120 approximately under the shaft 114, but definitely against stack stops 40.

It is while the stack is in this position that the jogger mechanism 290, 296, 297 jogs the ends of the strops so that the strips are abntted against the guide 298 for accurate location prior to the advancement of the stack into position under the die head 45.

The timing is such, that the die head is close to its lower position on the descending stroke when a new stack is moved to position against stop 40. This means that the pusher mechanism is in its advanced position, the rack bar 180 is in its opposite relation to the position shown in Fig. and the apparatus for dwell in the pusher operation is effective. The adjusting nuts at 192 are against the head 193 of the cylinder 190. The air action to advance the pusher is no longer effective, the rack bar is taking up the slack in the apparatus 171-180, and the pusher rods are motionless.

At this time the pitman 125 at each end of the head is being pulled down by eccentrics 70 and the die cutting operation is taking place. The pads 133 are compressed at either side of each blade 130 and the blades are severing the units from one another.

As the head 45 is being retracted (raised) in upward movement following the die cutting operation, the dwell apparatus has completed its function and the rack bar 180 moves to the position shown in Fig. 10 with the positive mechanical result of pulling the pusher apparatus to the position shown in Fig. 9 where it is about to be lowered for another pushing operation. I

During the early part of the retraction of the pusher mechanism the cams 141', 142', 143' and 144' have '10 raised frame 140 sothat thepu'sherbar and .its con nectorsc 158-159 with their stack pushers 165 are raised high enough to clear the new stack now being jogged Then when the pushers are fully retracted the frame 140 is lowered to bring the stack pushers 165 down onto the bed 120. Rack bar 180 is now in the position. shown in Fig. 10 grid Back bars. 154-155 are in the positions shown in 1g. I

Stops 40 are now drawn below the bed by the earn 300 and bar 309 and are held there while the next; push ing operation proceeds. The head 451's 'now in its uppermost position and the previously die. cut stack is in position. to be pushed by pusher bar 41. The frame 140 stays in its lowermost position while the pushers are thrust forward by rack bars 154-155 with the result that stack pushers 165 move the stacked strips 31 into position under the head 45. The stacked stripsare not only advanced accurately to position in the advancing;

movement, but also are held in properly stacked position. by the overhead pressure of the connectors 158-159.

As the forward motion of the stack is complete the stack stops 40 again are raised above the bed to position the next stack to come from the tray.

The forwardly moving die cut cards are projected off of the bed and into the respective pockets 46- with which each card is aligned. This means that the five units, one each from the end of strips -84 is dropped into the pocket at the left as seen in Fig. 2. The five cards to go into the next pocket comprise the next card in each of the five strips and so on through the rest of the groups of five cards to a stack in the length of the strips.

On the next cycle the pockets will have advanced one thrust of the dog 226 with the result that the next pack of five cards will be a different pack of cards struck from the next adjacent range of units. For instance, if the five cards coming to a pocket on one cycle come from range 91 the next five cards to that same pocket will come from range (see Fig. 2). Thus by the time a pocket has progressed throughout the length of the bed the successive cycles will have filled the pocket with five cards from each range and the pocket will have a complete set of cards from an entire sheet.

An operator at the infeed table 25 and an outfeed man at the output end of the pocket conveyor to unload the pockets constitute the only manpower required to run the machine.

What is claimed is:

1. In a machine of the character described for slitting and transversely cutting sheet material, an in-fecd table, a slitter for cutting a sheet of material into a plurality of strips, a collocating tray aligned for receiving and supporting strips of said material individually thereon, and means including feed rolls for feeding the sheet material in one direction from said table to said slitter and onto said tray; and means acting transversely of said direction for stacking said strips, die-cutting means for transversely cutting said stacked strips and out-feed pushing means for moving the stacked strips to said die means for cutting and for moving the transversely cut strips from said die means.

2. The machine of claim 1, including means for relatively timing the operation of the feed rolls and said stacking means, said feeding means including a stop and means for actuating said stop to prevent in-feed of material to said tray during transverse stacking movement of material therefrom.

3. In a tray equipped collocating machine, in-feed apparatus to supply strips of material side by side to the tray, said tray having troughs side by side, each trough extending in the direction of material supply and being provided with a bottom comprising a supporting surface tilted with respect to the feeding plane of the strips to receive a strip, a stacker movable across the trayj'in a 'second'direetion transversely "of said direction (if materiai'supply to'move the strips up their respective;

,supporting -surfaces' inee'helon 'insaid second direction into-a stack, and a brush having elongated bristles positioned to'bear upo'n t'he strips, saidbristles being pointed approximately in the direction across the ,tray whereby toassist in giving" desired direction to the strips by guiding them and" holding thein against the tray during,

stacking movement. I H

14; m1- apparatus'ofthe chara'cterdescribed having a unit col1ocating'tray; a bed positioned to receive stacked linit's,"' sta cking means movable to stack 'units from the. tray on'to 'said bed; a pusher frame'above the tray providedwvith mounting means and means for raisin'gfl'and lowering the frame -.during a stacking'ope'ration, and a pusher mechanism adjacent said bed and carried by the frame and means, fofmoving the pusher mechanism in the dire'ct'ion of stacking movement for flushing stacked u nits' in'a delivery movement from said bed while the frame is lowered and for retraction while the frame is 6, In; a pollocating machine an infeed sheet moving feed mechanism and atray for receiving the sheet ma-:

apnaratus of claim 4, wherein said stacking 112 terial 'in rectilinear 'niovement from 'the feedmchanism, a'dog mounted for movement of the material from thef tray to abed in a direction normalt'o the infeed m0ye-. nient, a die head positioned over the' bed and mounted I for action ori'the material to sever it into units, a pocket conveyorj to 'receive units from the bed,. and a pusher mounted for timed movement relative 'to the die head action whereby to movesevered units into the pocket conveyor;

References Cited in the. file ofthis batent UNITED-STATES PATENTS j' 121,;117 Madge 11 Nov. 21, 1871' 959,644 Sullivan May 31, 1910 1,127,034 Levvis, Feb. 2, 1915 1,598,919 McDonald Sept'l 7, 1926 1,726,418 ;.Aldricl 1 'et a1; Aug. 17, 1929 1,815,744 -Sullivan. July 21, 1931 6 40 May 3. 1932 2,255,777 Jones, Sept. 16,1941 2,309,045 Clayton Jan. 19, 1943 I' i 2,448,934 1 Van Derhofi Sept. 7, 1948 2,480,192 Laxo Aug. 30, 1949 2,561,070 Pythian July 17, 1951 2;568,248.. Nichols .et al'. Sept. 18, 1951 2,629,590. Smith Feb. 24, 19531 2,668,614: Lawson Feb. 9, 

